1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic focus adjusting apparatus and an automatic focus adjusting method, and an image pickup apparatus and an image pickup method, and particularly to a technology for focusing the face.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a digital camera which adjusts a focus based on image signals of a focus detection area (AF area) in an image has been proposed, in which the face of a person is identified from the image and the area of the face is set as the AF area when the size of the identified face is greater than a predetermined value, thereby setting an optimal AF area depending on the size of the face (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-317699).
The digital camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-317699 further identifies eyes within the face and sets a predetermined area, which is narrower than the face area and includes the identified eyes therein, as the AF area when determining that the size of the face is greater than the predetermined value.